I’ll take overseas please
I don’t usually believe in the concept of Guilty Pleasures. I don’t hide my Bros 7”s; I freely admit to liking The Steve Miller Band; I wear my love of pop trash on my sleeve. When it comes to TV though, it is with a large amount of shame that I admit my fondness for a particular Friday night programme.
It is an unchanging formula with the same boring old story every week.
It is hosted by two perma-smiling fools.
It is, in these times of economic austerity and environmental concern, a completely vile concept.
It is the most strangely unpatriotic programme I’ve ever seen.
It is A Place in the Sun.
Each week a couple face the challenging decision of whether to stay in miserable, expensive, rip-off old Blighty with UK host Johnny (always wearing a jumper) or whether to move to a fun-filled land of sun, endless cheap properties, sun, amazing views round every corner and even more sun in ‘the rest of Europe’ with Jasmine (always wearing a frock and a tan).
And inevitably every week the couple reject the mother country and up-sticks to ‘the rest of Europe’.
No matter how great a job Johnny does finding them a lovely (and within-budget house) in a quiet corner of rural Wales or a trendy pad in central Manchester, Jasmine always wins the couple over with the promise of an exotic lifestyle in sticksville, Slovenia.
The best thing is that A Place in the Sun studiously avoids any mention of any practical considerations whatsoever other than the all important house prices. Can Maria and Steve, looking for that exciting new life in Spain, speak Spanish? Will they miss the families and friends they’ve left behind? What are they actually going to do in that lovely picturesque village in France? Oh yes, run a gite with all that experience they gained from being a jewellery maker and a tree surgeon in real life.
Each show, I hold on with (not very) baited breath, just waiting for someone to choose the UK, for someone to realise that there is more to life than weather, cheap property prices and even cheaper dreams, and that Britain really isn’t that bad. And they never do.
But amongst all those inward looking ‘aren’t we great’ programmes like Coast, The Seven Ages of Britain, any show hosted by David Dimbleby or Alan Titchmarsh etc., A Place in the Sun does stand unique as the most unpatriotic show on the box. I don’t know how it got through.
Tags: on TV
March 12th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
The British love to hate their own country (if we had to admit it’s not that bad, we’d have to forgo the pleasure of moaning about it), so patriotism often only really kicks in after some impertinent foreigner has the gall to agree with us about how crap it is (THEN you’d better hold on to your hat. The one with the corks. Sheila.).
I’ll have a watch of this tonight. I fancy a bit of a merciless laugh.
March 13th, 2010 at 12:48 am
I love living in England , i could not think of leaving , the grass is always greener on the other side. I love to visit other countries but i love it here. Ok the weather could be better but hey , it’s home. I cant stand these type of tv programmes , i hate most tv actually but i do own Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits 1974/78 , class !.
March 13th, 2010 at 9:07 am
I found the one from last week, where a rather timid and unassertive woman from Cornwall got bullied into moving to Portugal. Bet she never gets on the plane.
Was Steve Miller the one who wanted to ‘reach out and grab ya’? Hmm.
March 13th, 2010 at 10:25 am
I am mildly shocked ISBW, that you actually went out of your way to watch A Place in the Sun. Well, now you at least understand why I really do feel ashamed to say I watch it. Carl, don’t ever be tempted.
Last weeks was particularly dreadful. I don’t know what goes on behind the cameras, but its like they all feel compelled to move to ‘a place in the sun’ because thats what they HAVE to do. It would have the opposite effect on me. Even if deep down, I actually wanted to move to France I’d have to stay in the UK just because I feel sorry for Johnny.
Yep, Steve Miller did want to reach out and grab ya. Some people also called him the space cowboy…
March 15th, 2010 at 9:55 am
I’m afraid I’ve always rather liked the British weather. Maybe it’s years of Children’s Film Foundation movies where it always looks like a slightly nippy, overcast Wednesday morning but it suits me fine. We get a bit of everything but it’s never that extreme.
As for A Place In The Sun, I always find the ‘place’ they can actually afford terribly disappointing whether it’s a hideous apartment in Spain in a soulless block (look, you just about see the sea if you crane your neck and are hanging from the (tiny) balcony) or a decrepit old wreck in the French countryside. And there always seems to be far more red tape in actually buying the thing than you get over here. I’m sure I saw one in Spain or Italy where you basically had to bribe a local official to make the sale.
I think the programmes like that, that really annoy me are the ones where families want to go to Australia because they think they’ll be able to just wander along the beach all day in the blazing heat.
Nah, I’ll stick with here thanks.
And I always call him Maurice!
March 15th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
Hello Wil, Are you admitting that you watch A Place in the Sun too? Excellent news.
Yes, I like the shows about people moving to Australia too. Apart from the obvious personal interest, people on those shows are particularly deranged. And its not just on TV too – a former colleague of mine moved his family to Australia for a touch of the ‘good life’ then only after he got there, was suprised to discover that his UK professional qualifications weren’t quite appropriate for Australia and that he would have to do a bit of retraining… You’d think you would look into these things before you left, wouldn’t you…
But aside from that, before I moved to UK I of course spent my life down the beach enjoying the non-stop sunny weather and ridiculously cheap cost of living. Not.
March 16th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
can’t bear property programmes of any stripe the moving abroad/to county ones are the most dishonest in that they apologise and gloss over “white flight” to certain extent. Plus they never mention us poor saps who rent (and indeed make our plight worse by promoting the myth of limitless risk free profit from the housing market).
Moving abroad shows have to portray “home” as rotten otherwise why would you want to move?
Also all these programmes seem to founded on the fallacy that some how we become a totally different person if move to southern Spain .
Also (i’ll stop ranting in moment) they never mention that cheap airfares may disappear soon (something many of these “homes” business plans are based on) rural Romanian is not goign to look quite a sweet if you have pay £200 ahead to get there anytime soon.
Lastly not dissing any ne who has moved hereBTW you are all fanbloodytastic
March 16th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Hello Mr Angry!
Good points all, especially about airfares. I hadn’t ever thought about airfares going up and this does affect the relative value of your ‘property’ (its never a home or a house or a flat is it?). However, I don’t think I really care – the environmental impact of people making umpteeth short haul flights and the fact that people use this as an argument for the third run way at Heathrow is deflects any sympathy I might have. (That’s my rant!)
And when you refer to white flight, I think you also mean ‘middle-class flight’!
March 16th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Funny enough, I’ve only seen this show once, and that was just a 10-15 minute chunk. The bit I saw was a couple being shown round Italy (I think!) and on arriving at the property the front door had been covered in grafitti! They didnt look too impressed, so assumed they would have plumped for ol Blighty! Guess I was wrong!
P
March 17th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Oh, I know that episode (sadly enough) – they were in Barcelona and yes, they chose Spain in the end. The next place had real potential you see…